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Thursday, July 24, 2014

Consumed !

In 1875 Fr Sharbel was granted permission to live as a hermit
nearby his monastery at St. Peter and Paul hermitage. His 23 years of
solitary life were lived in a spirit of total abandonment to God.

Sharbel's companions in the hermitage were the Sons of God, as
encountered in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, and the Blessed Mother.The Eucharist became the center of his life.
He consumed the Bread of his Life and was consumed by it.Though this hermit did not have a place in the world,
the world had a great place in his heart. Through prayer and penance he offered
himself as a sacrifice so that the world would return to God. It is in this
light that one sees the importance of the following Eucharistic prayer in his
life:

"Father
of Truth, behold Your Son a sacrifice pleasing to You, accept this offering of
Him who died for me..." On December 16, 1898 while
reciting the "Father of Truth" prayer at the Holy Liturgy Sharbel suffered a
stroke. He died on Christmas Eve at the age of 70. Through faith this hermit
received the Word of God and through love he continued the Ministry of
Incarnation.

When Sharbel was canonized (1977), Bsp
Francis Zayek, head of the U.S. Diocese of St. Maron,

wrote
a pamphlet entitled “A New Star of the East.” Bishop Zayek wrote:

“St. Sharbel is called the second St. Anthony of the Desert, the
Perfume of Lebanon, the first Confessor of the East to be raised to the Altars
according to the actual procedure of the Catholic Church, the honor of our
AramaicAntiochianChurch, and the model of
spiritual values and renewal. Sharbel is like a Cedar of Lebanon standing in
eternal prayer, on top of a mountain.”